Susan Adams Claims “Racism” Over HUD Column

In a recent IJ column I decried Marin’s Board of Supervisors for approving a series of agreements with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Affairs. Last year the County approved a “Compliance Agreement” and this month a series of “implementation guidelines” that will demand more high density clustered affordable housing in existing single family residential neighborhoods. The two documents will also, for the first time, subject Marin to federal racial quota-based scrutiny over its housing patterns and zoning.

This is exactly what HUD did in Westchester County, New York. Basically the Feds want every town and zip code in Marin to have a racial balance mimicking the racial balance of the nine Bay Area counties.

The word among housing advocates is that HUD in trying to make “Marin the next Westchester.” So far, they are succeeding.

I am loath to bring up race-based policies, but it’s impossible to discuss the actins of HUN and the sups without such references. Shockingly, that’s what HUD new policy is all about. Of course the dilema is that in American today is that even to discuss race-bassed policies is guarentee that someone will call the writer a racist.

After the column was published, I received the following outraged note from Marin County Supervisor Susan Adams in defense of her enthusiastic vote favoring HUD’s demand and the County’s actions.

“Your statements which include the following: ‘housing activists resent that upper-middle class whites and Asians can afford to live in attractive, crime-free communities.” She goes on to opine that my column “…attest(s) to the racist perceptions that still exist in our communities and are especially of concern when coming from Opinion writers in the press…”

“My niece, who is Hispanic and a successful business woman, Cecilia Zamora, the chair of the Hispanic Chamber and Noah Griffin an upstanding African-American community member, who is a regular writer in the IJ and Curtis Robinson, MD might take offense in your targeting of whites and Asians as being the only upper middle class races who can afford beautiful Marin…and therein lies the problem with racism in Marin…It’s not just about low income people having an equal opportunity to compete for whatever limited amount of housing or jobs that are available in our county…it’s not about filling racial quotas…it’s about the racism that still exists…even against the upper and middle class non-white members of our communities who are also being discriminated against and are subjected to statements such as those you printed in your article.”

The upshot of this rant is that while its fine to disagree with a newspaper columnist who takes a more centrist position than an elected official on the fringes of the political left, Adams finds it necessary to personally vilify and play the race card when someone disagrees.

She’s also a bit delusional in reading into the column points which were never offered, but that the privilege of any reader. Needless to say, any reader can search the colulm and will fail to find any reference in it to the effect that only only upper middle class Asians and Whites can aford to live in Marin.

Adams fabricates a cry of “racism” when someone simply opines that the board of which she’s a member is supporting bad public policy. That’s the approach that some worry that HUD will pursue when they will inevitably come under intense criticism for these actions.

We can only hope that Adams expands on these points in her current race to succeed Congressmember Lynn Woolsey.

Of course Adams’ use of the term “racism” applies to every Marinites, including her very own San Rafael constituents, who join in opposing the actions of both HUD and the Board of Sups.

The real debate here is not between alleged media racists and self-righteous politicians. It’s between those who support equality of opportunity versus those who demand equality of outcome. I stand with the first, Adams with the second.

2 Responses to Susan Adams Claims “Racism” Over HUD Column

After reading reports of the board’s meeting on the Fair Housing plan, I watched the video of it. I was shocked at the board’s casual acceptance of racism and discrimination in our county simply because of the racial makeup. Also the Westchester case was based upon false claims under the federal statute. No one, inluding the writer of yesterday’s Marin Voice, who is the responsible county employee in this, has said how Marin has made false claims to receive federal fair housing grants. And who is responsible for allegedly putting our county in peril.